- Meta removes ads for social media addiction litigation
Source: Axios
“Meta on Thursday began removing advertisements from attorneys who were seeking clients that claim to have been harmed by social media while under the age of 18. This comes just two weeks after Meta and YouTube were found negligent in a landmark California case about social media addiction [sic]. Lawyers across the country now are seeking new plaintiffs, in the hopes of bringing a class action lawsuit that could result in lucrative verdicts. … ‘We’re actively defending ourselves against these lawsuits and are removing ads that attempt to recruit plaintiffs for them,’ a Meta spokesperson tells Axios. ‘We will not allow trial lawyers to profit from our platforms while simultaneously claiming they are harmful.'” (04/09/26)
https://www.axios.com/2026/04/09/meta-social-media-addiction-ads
- First major Atlantic hurricane season outlook calls for below-average activity
Source: Washington Post
“The first major outlook for the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season was released Thursday morning as researchers at Colorado State University forecast a near- or below-average season, with fewer hurricanes than typical and a lesser chance of impacts for this region of the United States. In his first long-range forecast for the year, renowned hurricane specialist Phil Klotzbach predicted 13 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes, slightly less than the long-term seasonal average of 14.4 named storms, 7.2 hurricanes and 3.2 major hurricanes. … The driving factor is a burgeoning El Niño, which may even become a super El Niño. El Niño begins as a warming of waters in the eastern/central tropical Pacific. … El Niño patterns are linked to quieter-than-average Atlantic hurricane seasons.” (04/09/26)
- Venezuela: Police attack protesters with chemical weapons
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Venezuelan police fired tear gas on Thursday to disperse around 2,000 protesters who marched towards the presidential palace to demand salary increases, AFP reporters said. ‘Let’s go to Miraflores!’ the demonstrators shouted as they pressed long-standing demands for increases to wages so low that many struggle to survive. Riot police with helmets and shields attempted to drive back the protesters as they made their way through central Caracas, a few kilometres from the presidential palace. The protests reflect growing anger in Venezuela over the failure of acting President Delcy Rodriguez to set out concrete plans to address the situation. On Wednesday, she went on television to announce a wage increase on May 1 but did not disclose the amount.” (04/09/26)
- UK & Norway led military operation to deter Russian submarines in North Atlantic
Source: SFGate
“Britain and Norway conducted a weekslong military operation to deter Russian spy submarines near undersea cables in the North Atlantic, the U.K. defense chief said Thursday, accusing Moscow of using the distraction of the Iran war to ramp up malign activity against Europe. Defense Secretary John Healey said a Royal Navy frigate, aircraft and hundreds of personnel were involved in tracking a Russian attack sub and two spy submarines operating north of the U.K., and prevented the spy vessels from carrying out ‘nefarious’ activities against underwater infrastructure. He said the Russian vessels eventually left after the operation that lasted more than a month. There is no evidence of damage to any cables or pipes, he said. The U.K. said other allies were also involved in the operation, but didn’t name them.” (04/09/26)
- MN fraud scandal: Sixth family member who met with AG Ellison set to plead guilty
Source: Fox News
“Yet another member of a family within Minnesota’s Somali community is expected to plead guilty Thursday in the massive fraud scandal that has drawn national attention and prompted criticism of Attorney General Keith Ellison over a meeting he held with members of the family in question. Gandi Mohamed, 45, is expected to either plead guilty at a change of plea hearing scheduled for Thursday or choose to enter a plea of no contest, which would allow him to accept conviction and be sentenced without admitting guilt, according to court records. Mohamed is the sixth member of his family who would be pleading guilty in the scheme prosecutors say fraudulently claimed to be serving meals while instead pocketing $14 million from the federal child nutrition program, Fox 9 Minneapolis reported.” (04/09/26)
- Emperor penguins listed as endangered species by worldwide tracking organization
Source: CBS News
“The emperor penguin has been declared an endangered species as climate change pushes the icon of Antarctica a step closer to extinction, the global authority on threatened wildlife announced Thursday. Its change of status from ‘near threatened’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) underscores the existential threat to ice-dependent species as global warming profoundly reshapes the frozen continent. Emperor penguins rely on sea ice to live, hunt and breed. The early break-up and loss of these platforms of frozen ocean water has caused their numbers to plummet.” (04/09/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/emperor-penguins-endangered-species/
- Iran War: And The Winner Is …
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“US president Donald Trump says that his war in Iran — currently in a supposed ceasefire — resulted in ‘total and complete victory. 100%. No question about it.’ The Iranian regime, via a statement from its Supreme National Security Council, also claims ‘great victory.’ If the war is really over (I’m skeptical), who actually won? Well, not you.” (04/09/26)
- War Abroad, Tyranny at Home — and the Theft of a Nation
Source: CounterPunch
by John W Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead“Every bomb dropped abroad is a bill sent home. Every war waged in the name of ‘security’ is paid for by Americans who go without — without affordable healthcare, without stable housing, without a government that prioritizes their well-being. As the U.S. pours trillions into endless wars and military expansion, Americans are left paying the price — not just in dollars, but in lost freedoms and eroded constitutional protections. This is not national defense. This is organized theft.” (04/09/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/09/war-abroad-tyranny-at-home-and-the-theft-of-a-nation/
- Trump’s New Budget — Which Proposes $1.5 Trillion for Defense — Is Unserious. You Should Still Take It Seriously.
Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy“The president’s fiscal 2027 budget is out, and I have two reactions. The first will sound familiar: Like so many budgets before it, this is not a serious effort to put America’s government on a sustainable path. The second is more important: It would be a mistake to dismiss it as just another unserious document. That is exactly how we got here.” (04/09/26)
- The World Can Have Peace Or Israel, But Not Both
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Israel is already aggressively sabotaging the Trump administration’s two-week ceasefire with Iran by slaughtering huge numbers of civilians in Lebanon …. The US and Israel are trying to claim that Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire agreement, but Pakistan, whom the US appointed to mediate the agreement, says this is false. The New York Times reports that the White House took part in Pakistan’s public messaging which explicitly included Lebanon in the ceasefire conditions, before changing its tune after Israel attacked. Iran has reportedly responded to these violations by again halting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. This serves as yet another reminder that the world can have peace or it can have Israel — but it cannot have both. Israel is a genocidal apartheid state whose entire existence is premised upon a strategy of unceasing violence and abuse in the middle east.” (04/09/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/04/09/the-world-can-have-peace-or-israel-but-not-both/
- “No Kings” Doesn’t Apply in California
Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley“‘No Kings’ protests have been breaking out all over California, even in the quaint village of Cambria on the central coast. In effect, for nearly three decades, that town was ruled by the closest equivalent of a monarch since the days of Spanish colonialism. As King Arthur (Graham Chapman) noted in the Monty Python Holy Grail film, ‘you don’t vote for kings,’ and that was true of Peter Douglas. Born in Germany in 1942, Douglas came to the United States in the early 1950s and earned undergraduate and law degrees from UCLA. In 1972, three years after the Santa Barbara oil spill, Douglas co-authored Proposition 20, the ballot initiative that created the California Coastal Commission (CCC), a temporary 15-member commission to impose land-use regulations along the state coastline. … Douglas ruled the California coast for 26 years without ever facing the voters.” (04/09/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/04/09/no-kings-doesnt-apply-in-california/
- A Crucial Task for Journalists in 2026
Source: TomDispatch
by Arnold Isaacs“A few weeks before the 2020 presidential election, I wrote ‘An Open Letter to My Old Tribe’, urging ‘every reporter who is covering this election at any level’ to focus on a crucial question — whether the public would trust the election procedure and the losing candidate would accept the result as legitimate. ‘It does not seem an exaggeration,’ I wrote then, ‘to say that the future of American democracy, perhaps its very survival, depends on the answer.’ More than five years later, with less than seven months to go before the midterm elections, that question is before us again, but in far starker terms than I could have imagined in 2020. So, here’s an updated letter to the media tribe I once belonged to, with suggestions broadly similar to those I made five years ago, but with a far sharper sense of urgency, even fear.” (04/09/26)
https://tomdispatch.com/from-an-old-journalist-another-letter-to-the-tribe/
- Who Won the Iran War (So Far)?
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“Who won the Iran War, at least so far? The answer turns on what metrics for success one uses. If one uses military battles, bombings, death, and destruction, there is no question but that the United States won the war. … Yet, consider the following: The U.S. had the following war aims: (1) an unconditional surrender of the Iranian regime; (2) regime change in which pro-U.S. Iranian dissidents would take control of the Iranian government; and (3) the destruction of Iran’s nuclear materials.” (04/09/26)
- America Needs to Impeach Trump For its Own Moral Health
Source: The UnPopulist
by Matt Johnson“Even an unsuccessful effort will show that many Americans reject threats of genocide to win a war.” (04/09/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/america-needs-to-impeach-trump-for
- Trump Shows Why Congress Should Decide When America Goes to War
Source: The American Conservative
by Doug Bandow“The president’s performance has been bizarre as well as hypocritical. He insists, as nations around the world stumble toward recession, that he acted for them, so it is up to them to get the oil they need. He removed sanctions on oil sold by Iran while threatening to wipe out Iranian civilization. He declared his support for the Iranian people while warning that he would bomb them back into ‘the Stone Ages.’ America’s founders would not have been surprised by such a performance. They revolted against not just Great Britain, but an entire monarchical system in which kings, emperors, queens, czars, and other royals ruled arbitrarily. Among monarchs’ chief crimes was callously taking their peoples into senseless wars for economic plunder, territorial aggrandizement, and personal glory — rather like Trump’s Iranian misadventure. Those who drafted the Constitution wanted to ensure that America didn’t suffer similar travails.” (04/09/26)
- Orbán’s On the Ropes. But Don’t Pray for a Miracle Just Yet
Source: Persuasion
by Dalibor Rohac“Hungary’s strongman has drastically reshaped his country, and the election on Sunday may not change that.” (04/09/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/orbans-on-the-ropes-but-dont-pray
- Comparison Shopping Is Not a (Computer) Crime
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Corynne McSherry & Tori Noble“As long as people have had more than one purchasing option, they’ve been comparing those options and looking for bargains. Online shoppers are no exception; in fact, one of the potential benefits of the internet is that it expands our options for everything from car rentals to airline tickets to dish soap. New AI tools can make the process even easier. These tools could provide some welcome relief for consumers facing sky-high prices that many cannot afford. Unfortunately, Amazon is trying to block these helpful new tools, which can steer shoppers towards competitors. Taking a page from Facebook and RyanAir, they are trying to use computer crime laws to do it.” (04/09/26)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/comparison-shopping-not-computer-crime
- Full Employment May Still Signal Stagnation in Labor
Source: The Daily Economy
by Antón Chamberlin“Low layoffs and low hiring have created a fragile equilibrium. The underlying picture points to drift, not true growth.” (04/09/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/full-employment-may-still-signal-stagnation-in-labor/
- California on the Cusp
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Marc Joffe“California voters will decide this year whether the state will remain the global center of technology innovation or begin a steady decline. Their choice for governor and on a key ballot initiative will make the difference. The top three Democratic gubernatorial candidates enjoy strong backing from organized labor, including the state’s all-powerful public-employee unions. If elected, it’s nearly certain they’ll follow the union playbook of more taxes and regulations for the next four or even eight years.” (04/09/26)
- What comes next in the Iran war? What this ceasefire will and won’t do
Source: Fox News
by Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis, (USA, ret.)“The Iran ceasefire was less than three hours old when missiles began flying from Iran toward Israel and the Gulf states. That detail — documented in real time — tells you more about the durability of this agreement than any official statement. A pause is not peace. A handshake in Islamabad is not a settlement. And a region that has been at war for 40 days does not stand down because two governments issued parallel social media posts. The two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army chief Gen. Asim Munir is genuinely welcome. It stepped both sides back from a precipice with real humanitarian and strategic consequences. But Vice President JD Vance himself called it a ‘fragile truce.’ That is the most honest thing anyone in this administration has said about it. Hold that phrase.” (04/09/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/what-comes-next-iran-war-what-ceasefire-will-wont-do
- Trump Has a War Crimes Problem. It’s His Mouth.
Source: The Bulwark
by Will Saletan“He can’t stop freestyling about plunder and atrocities.” (04/09/26)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-has-a-war-crimes-problem-its-his-mouth
- Allegiance, Birthright, and Citizenship
Source: Law & Liberty
by Philip Hamburger“The justices need to understand the full range of considerations underlying Trump v. Barbara.” (04/09/26)
https://lawliberty.org/allegiance-birthright-and-citizenship/
- Turns Out the Elites Like the Administrative State Better than Democracy
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by William L Anderson“The ‘administrative state,’ of course, is anything but democratic; it is autocratic to the core. For all of their professed love for democracy, progressives have long demanded rule by experts, or at least rule by ‘experts’ that meet progressive approval. As I pointed out last year, when actual scientists studied the effects of so-called acid rain and concluded that it was not causing lake and river acidification, progressives in the media, as well as EPA administrators, immediately tried to destroy the careers of scientists failing to echo the party line. Not surprisingly, one of the loudest antiscience voices in the acid rain affair was the New York Times.” (04/09/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/turns-out-elites-administrative-state-better-democracy
- Ending Israel’s War on Peace
Source: Common Dreams
by Jeffrey D Sachs & Sybil Fares“A two-week ceasefire has partially halted the Israel-US war on Iran. The war accomplished precisely nothing that a competent diplomat could not have achieved in an afternoon. The Strait of Hormuz was open before the war and it is open again now, but with more Iranian control. Meanwhile, the chaos continues. Israel is intent on blowing up the ceasefire, as this was Israel’s war from the start. Israel dazzled Trump with the prospect of a one-day decapitation strike that would put Trump in charge of Iran’s oil. Israel, in turn, was out for bigger prey: to bring down the Iranian regime and thereby become the regional hegemon of Western Asia. The foundation of the ceasefire is Iran’s 10-point plan, which Trump (perhaps unwittingly) called a ‘workable basis on which to negotiate.'” (04/09/26)
- Nuclear Myths Continue to Fuel Neocon Fantasies
Source: The Realist Review
by James W Carden“Mark Levin is a fool, but he is hardly the only one.” (04/09/26)
https://therealistreview.substack.com/p/nuclear-myths-continue-to-fuel-neocon
- The “Opposition Party” Has Done Nothing to Stop the Iran War and Much to Goad Trump Into Continuing It
Source: Glenn Greenwald
by Jeremy Loffredo“There is a version of the Democratic Party that exists only in the imagination: the peace party, the anti-war party, the party that marched against the Iraq War and howled at its neocon designers. As Donald Trump (reportedly) accepted Iran’s ceasefire terms this week, some of the most pointed attacks coming his way from Democrats are not about the thousands of civilians killed, the weeks of brutal bombardments against medical centers and universities, or the global economic damage the war has caused. They are about the war ending before the U.S. and Israel finished the job. And this is not a fringe phenomenon. It is a pattern coming from Democratic senators, the Democratic House Foreign Affairs Committee, ranking members of the Armed Services Committee, and some of the party’s most prominent voices. The liberal opposition party wants more war.” (04/09/26)
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-opposition-party-has-done-nothing
- Invent God, or lose to China
Source: Sex and the State
by Cathy Reisenwitz“In my studies, I keep hearing about an ‘AI arms race’ between the US and China. At first, here’s what I thought I wanted to know: 1. How do the experts define ‘winning’ in this context? 2. What are the actual stakes? What I found was that this framing kinda sucks. It’s useful as shorthand in conversations about AI safety vs AI progress. But it doesn’t really describe reality.” (04/09/26)
https://cathyreisenwitz.substack.com/p/invent-god-or-lose-to-china
- What Does the New Right Believe?
Source: Reason
by Stephen Davies“From trade to migration to personal freedom, the conservatives of the global New Right hold a philosophy incompatible with individualism.” (04/09/26)
https://reason.com/2026/04/09/what-does-the-new-right-believe/
- Medicalization of Our Spiritual Life
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Elisabeth Bennink“Recently, like millions of others around the world, I listened to a conversation on The Joe Rogan Experience between Joe Rogan and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., aired on February 27, 2026. In the discussion, HHS Secretary Kennedy spoke at length about promoting healthy nutrition and tackling health insurance fraud. While nutrition is undoubtedly an important subject, my attention was drawn instead to another topic — one that lies close to my heart: the use of psychedelics in medical and therapeutic settings, and what I perceive as the implicit threat this poses to our freedom. … while I share their enthusiasm for psychedelics, I, both as a physician and an ayahuasqueira, see a profound threat to our (religious) freedom when authority over these substances is placed exclusively in the hands of what might be called the ‘church of medicine.'” (04/09/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/medicalization-of-our-spiritual-life/
- The Daily, 04/09/26
Source: New York Times
“Unmasking the Creator of Bitcoin.” (04/09/26)
- The Libertarian Angle, 04/09/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Intellectual Giants in Austrian Economics.” (04/09/26)
- Kibbe on Liberty, episode 380
Source: Free the People
“How Do We Get Out of Iran? | Guest: Dave DeCamp.” (04/09/26)
- Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 04/09/26
Source: Freedom’s Phoenix
“Silver Dave (Local Silver Mint) comes on the show to talk about the benefits of silver and how he is ramping up his production facility to manufacture 1/10 oz SilverBitz (makes for easy barter/exchange), why investing in silver hedges inflation and the dollar decline, etc.” (04/09/26)
- Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael, 04/09/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael
“Are U.S. Elections Secure?: The 2024 Election and Election Forensics w/ Nathan Taylor.” (04/09/26)
- Capital Record, episode 293
Source: National Review
“Middle Class Resentment, David French, and a Free Market Economy.” (04/09/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 04/09/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“The Unraveling Of The US/Israel/Iran Ceasefire.” (04/09/26)
- Make It Make Sense, 04/09/26
Source: Washington Post
“Never subsidize a sports stadium.” (04/09/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/make-it-make-sense/never-subsidize-a-sports-stadium/
- The Kyle Anzalone Show, 04/09/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“CMD CMSgt Dennis Fritz – Iran Orders Incoming? The Dilemma Facing U.S. Troops.” (04/09/26)
- Underthrow Podcast, 04/09/26
Source: Underthrow
“7 Virtues We Should All Start Practicing Right Now w/ Max Borders.” (04/09/26)
- Bulwark Takes, 04/09/26
Source: The Bulwark
“The Department of War vs. the Pope (w/ Ed Condon).” (04/09/26)
- Rising, 04/09/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Michigan Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed campaigning with controversial leftist influencer Hasan Piker.” (04/09/26)